Dr Peter Hutchinson, from neigbouring East London, attended the scene and confirmed the death was due to natural causes. Experts say that a deterioration of muscles over time and the build-up of gasses could have caused the fetus to be expelled from the mother's body.

The woman's mother, Mandzala Mdoyi, spoke of her anguish over her daughter's death and the subsequent discovery.

"First, I was devastated by the untimely death of my daughter and now I got the shock of my life to learn that she had given birth while she had been dead for 10 days. What is that? God please come and intervene?" she pleaded.

The mother and her stillborn baby were both buried together in the same coffin on Saturday (Janaury 13).